I can't call this a great movie. What I can say is that from the first scene, I was drawn in by the pure spectacle. The characters with their profuse makeup and strange costumes, the set, the movement of the adult and child slaves, were hard to turn away from. The intensity of everything as the John the Baptist character, imprisoned, though loved by Herod, stays true to his calling. Salome, played by the filmmaker, is ruthless and petulant. I'm sure there were times when the Bible version of the story was twisted a bit, but I couldn't take my eyes off it. Of course, I know the story and that made me look more deeply into the presentation of that tale.
